Resilient wheel.



W. B. GRAY.

RESILIBNT WHEEL. APPLICATION FILED JAN..'50,1913v v Patented ar;30,1915;

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

THE NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHO70-LITHQ., WASHINGTON r W. B.,GRAY. BESILIENTWHEEL. APPLICATION FILED H. 30, 191s.

Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

2 SHEETSSH{ET 2.

1 NORRIS PETERS C0,. PHOm-LITHO., WASHINGTON. D. c.

WILLIAM B. GRAY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RESILIENT WHEEL.

Application filed January 30, 1913.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, WILLIAM B. GRAY, acitizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, Stateof Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inResilient Wheels, and declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

Many attempts have been made to pro duce resilient wheels by connectingthe hubs with the rims through spring spokes or other resilient devices.It has been attempted to make spokes in part of straight flat springs soconnected to the rim and hub members as to permit relative radialmovement with respect to at least one of such members. Although straightfiat springs are cheap and simple and can be reproduced with greatuniformity so as to make them highly satisfactory elements of resilientwheels, the difficulties which have been encountered in satisfactorilyconnecting such springs between a hub and a rim have heretofore made theuse of straight flat spring spokes commercially impracticable.

The object of my invention is to produce a simple and novel constructionand arrangement of parts which shall make it practicable to produce astrong, durable and effectively cushioned wheel with spokes having theform of straight flat springs.

Two of the principal problems encountered in the construction of asatisfactory wheel having straight spring spokes are the utilization ofthe entire radial distance between the hub and the rim for springpurposes or, in other words, to make it possible to use a spring ofmaximum length; and furthermore, to provide means for preventing wearbetween the spokes and the parts with which they slidably engage or, ifany wear occurs, for automatically taking up such wear so as to make thewheel run silently. In addition to these problems there is of coursealso that of cost, both initial cost and cost of making repairs andreplacements.

Specifically considered my invention may be said to have for its objectto produce a novel construction and arrangement of parts which will givea maximum effective spring length to the spokes, reduce the amount ofSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. so, rare.

Serial No. 745.100.

wear and automatically take up such wear as may occur, and reduce theinitial cost and the cost of repairs and replacements to a minimum.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterizedwill hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but,for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects andadvantages, reference may be had to the following detailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a side view of a fragment of a wheel arranged in accordancewith one form of my invention; Fig. 2 is a section on an enlarged scaleon line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4is a perspective view on a larger scale than Fig. 1 of a fragment of awheel rim and the adjacent end of a spoke; Fig. 5 is a view looking downon Fig. i, the spoke and rim being omitted; Fig. 6 is a perspective viewof a fragment of a holding and bearing device containing rollers forengaging with the spoke; Fig. 7 is a plan view of two rollers such asillustrated in Fig. 6, provided with end flanges to take the side thruston the spokes; Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing a modifiedarrangement in which the spoke is engaged with rollers mounted in amovable cage; Fig. 9 is a view partly in side elevation and partly insection of a fragment of a wheel wherein the spokes are attached to therim and a sliding connection is provided between the spokes and the hub;Fig. 10 is a side view of the two halves of the hub shown in Fig. 9,separated from each other; Fig. 11 is a side view on an enlarged scaleof one of the shoes carried by the hub in Fig. 9 and engaging at thespokes; and Fig. 12 is a section on line 1212 of Fig. 11.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, 1 represents a wheel hub and2 a wheel rim. 3 are spokes in the form of long straight fiat springsrigidly connected in any suitable way to the hub and extending from thelatter to the rim. Distributed around the interior of the rim, betweenthe outer ends of the spokes, is a series of spring plates, 4, eachsecured to the rim in any suitable way, as indicated at 5 between two ofthe spokes. The ends of the spring plates are bent inwardly toward thecenter of the wheel, preferably along gradual curves and the free endsof each plate are made to extend in proximity to the adjacent ends ofthe two adjacent plates in the series. In this way spring bearing guidesare provided for the outer ends of the spokes, each spoke passingbetween and being yieldably held by two of the bent ends or arms. Thespokes are made slightly shorter than the radial distance between thehub and the rim so'that they may move bodily in the radial directionwithout coming in contact with the rim. Thus whenthe parts of a wheelare assembled, the wheel consists of a hub, arim, and spring spokesextending between the hub and rim but connected to the rim only byhaving their ends slidably engaged between spring pressed arms or partsand having no direct contact with the rim. When the wheel is put inoperation, under a super posed load, all of the spring spokes except oneor two which happen to be perpendicular at any given instant, are flexedmore or less, those in the upper half of the wheel having their outerends drawn between the holding and bearing devices toward the center ofthe wheel while those in the lower half of the wheel have their outerends move toward the rim; the movement in either case being insufficientto disconnect the spokes from the holding and bearing devices or bringthe outer ends into engagement with the rim, so that the hub is alwayshung from the rim on a yielding cushion made up of a large number oflong flat springs. By making the holding and bearing devices of springmetal, they will yield to adapt themselves to the curvature of thespokes as the latter are flexed and will automatically take up any wearwhich occurs on the engaging surfaces between the spokes and the holdingand bearing devices, so that there will never be any looseness orrattling which would be incident to lost motion between the wearingfaces on the spokes and holding devices. The bent ends or arms, 6, ofthe spring plates may be provided with shoes, 7, which serve as thedirect engaging means with the spokes. Furthermore, if desired, theshoes may have flanges, 8, at the sides, these flanges extending towardeach other so as to form between each pair of shoes a pocket the wallsof which will engage not only with the flat faces of the spokes but alsowith the side edges and thus prevent slippage in the sidewise direction.

In Figs. 4: and 5 I have shown a some what diflerent arrangement, eachspring plate 9 lying between the outer end of one of the spokes and therim and being attached to the rim by suitable fastening devices 10. Theends of the plates 9 are bent inwardly so as to form on each plate twospring arms 11 lying on opposite sides of and cooperating with one ofthe spokes. In this arrangement, also, the sprmg arms may be prov1dedwlth shoes as mdicated at 12,

for engagement with the spokes. Displacement of the spokes in thelateral direc tion, and undue separation of; the arms cooperating witheach spoke may conveniently be prevented by connecting each pair ofshoes together with links 13 having elongated slots'orholes, 14, throughwhich extend the pins, 15, by which the shoes are held on the springs.

In Fig. 6 I have shown an arrangement in which the spring arms, 16, ofthe type shown either in Fig. 1 or in Fig. 4, are provided :withrollers,.17, instead of bearing directly against the spokes or havingfriction shoes which engage with thespokes. If desired, the rollersmaybe shaped as illus-. trated in Fig. 7, the rollers 18, thereillustrated, having end flanges, 19, which are adapted to take the sidethrust on the spokes.

If desired, the spring arms, eitherof the type shown in Fig. 1 or thatshown in Fig.

I 4 may be provided at their endswith bearings of the type shown in Fig.8; the spring arms 20 carrying shoes 21 between which is loosely held aroller cage, 22. The rollers- 23 have axle openings, 24:, which arelarger in diameter than the pins or axles 25 which hold them in place.This permits the rollers on opposite sides of the socket to move fromand toward each other. The spoke is adapts ed to lie between and engagewith the two sets of rollers, while the shoes 21 bear against the outersides of the rollers and yieldingly press them into engagement with thespoke. If desired, the spokes may be fastened to'the rim and havesliding engagement with suitable holding and bearing devices arranged atthe hub, one such arrangement beingindicated in Figs. 9 and 10.Refer-ring to these figures, 30 represents a rimand 31 a hub, while theflat spring'spokes' are represented at 32. The hub may conveniently bemade of two separate plates 33 and'3t; the plate 33 having on one side adrum 35; and the other plate havingon'one side a divided drum, 36,1argerin diameter than the drum 35-. The number of divisions of the drum 36 isequal to the number ofspokes in the wheel. Upon the drum 35 restaseriesof holding devices, 37, of the general type illustrated inFig.4:,one section of the drum 36 overlying. the yoke porhub as indicatedinFig 9. The wearing;

face of each shoe may consist of a plate, 38, of bronze or othersuitable material detachably connected to the shoe so as to providemeans for removing a worn wearing plate and replacing it by a new one.

It will now be seen that I have produced a cheap, simple and efficientarrangement of parts which permits a wheel to be made with long springspokes extending the entire radial distance from the hub to the rim,excepting the small clearance required at one end of each spoke when thesockets are arranged on the inner side of the rim; which enables thespokes to bend along natural curves when the wheel is in operation; andwhich automatically takes up Wear and prevents lost motion and noise.

I claim:

1. In combination, a hub member, a rim member, spokes in the form ofsprings eX- tending between the said members and fastened to one of saidmembers and tree at the other end, and spring plates each fixed at thecenter to the other of said members and having its ends bent into armsextending approximately radially toward the hub, each spoke beingengaged and yieldingly clamped between two of said arms arranged onopposite sides thereof.

2. In combination, a hub member, a rim member, spokes in the form ofsprings extending between said members, said spokes being fastened atone end to one of said members and having the other end free, and springplates each fixed at the center to the other of said members and havingits ends bent into arms overlapping the free ends of adjacent spokes,the plates corresponding in number to the spokes, and the arms of theplates being bent so that each lies at an angle to one of the spokes andyieldably engages therewith.

8. In combination, a hub member, a rim member, a series of socketscarried by one of said members, spokes in the form of springs secured tothe other of said members and each slidably engaged at its other endwith one of said sockets, each of said sockets comprising two springarms lying at an angle to each other and tending nor mally to approacheach other at their free ends more closely than the thickness of one ofthe spokes.

4-. In combination, a hub member, a rim member, spokes in the form ofsprings extending radially between said members and secured to one ofthem, spring sockets secured to the other member and embracing the freeends of the spokes, said sockets being provided with rollinganti-friction members engaging with the spokes and movable bodily in thedirection of the length of the spokes.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification in the presence of twowitnesses.

WILLIAM B. GRAY.

Witnesses:

WM. F. FREUDENREIOH, RUTH E. ZETTEWALL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Gommissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

